MONTREAL -- The Montreal police force (SPVM) launched a recruitment campaign Thursday aimed at getting young people interested in a career in policing, particularly those from ethnocultural and Indigenous communities.

The diversity recruitment advertising campaign aimed at young people aged 15 to 25 is entitled `Become an agent of change by working as a police officer at the SPVM'. The campaign, a first of its kind in Montreal, is being launched as part of Police Week.

The SPVM points out that Montreal is a multicultural metropolis and that the police force wishes to reflect this reality through better representation in its workforce. It seeks to be more reflective of the population it serves on a daily basis.

Inspector Miguël Alston, who is responsible for attracting a diverse workforce at the SPVM, hopes that young people between the ages of 15 and 25 from ethnocultural and aboriginal communities will see themselves in the police profession and see the potential to make a difference by choosing a career with the SPVM.

Inspector Alston says that these people have a place in the organization and that there are many opportunities for advancement, adding that through the actions police officers take on a daily basis, they are agents of change and make a difference in people's lives.

The campaign will be deployed with posters in bus shelters, in the vicinity of high schools in the Saint-Michel and Saint-Léonard neighbourhoods, on social networks and digital platforms, where the police believe the target clientele is mainly located. The SPVM is also launching a new website dedicated specifically to recruitment.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2021.